100 Drabbles
by Akili-chan
Summary: Sorry for taking so long to update!
1. Smell

_I do not own anything in this story._

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_36. Smell_

The world smelled like mud and dying plants. Like smog, and hate, and oil. Alex knew that it was all in his head, that the word hadn't really changed during the last few days.

Other then his best friend being dead.

Again.

Alex hadn't even had time to properly mourn properly before being trust into another battle. Had not yet wrapped his head around the thought of a world without Brandon there to watch his back. He wanted to be angry or sad but emotions ran through his head so fast Alex couldn't give a name to them.

Asazi tried to help, and he loved her even more for it. But she didn't know what to do, Alex didn't know what she could do. So he smiled and told her things would be fine. They weren't, she knew that they weren't. But Asazi smiled back and backed off, acting as though nothing had prompted her to stroke his hair while Alex pretended to be asleep.

Things would get better after a while. Alex was sure that it would happen even though he couldn't see how. The world would go back to normal and things would stop smelling like death.


	2. Sound

_Yes I ship this couple._

* * *

_37. Sound_

Winifred didn't know that Tempest listened to her while she was humming. It was a rare event that she did so, probably didn't even notice that she was doing it because Tempest had a faint feeling she would have stopped. But he liked the faint sound of songs being hummed while they worked so Tempest never mentioned the noise.

It was also the closest he would allow them to be. Even though he was tempted to take her hand and smile, let himself listen to the songs she sung for the rest of their lives. But Winifred deserved a large, happy family and white picket fence while all he had to offer was probable death and a life of wondering above the world.

So she didn't know that when she hummed he could hear her. That sometimes when she didn't Tempest wished that she would. And he would never tell her the truth.


	3. Fixed

_Grinder needed some love_

* * *

_72. Fixed_

Grinder didn't mind being in the background. Preferred it really, watching everyone's lives and only interfering when he wanted or needed to. He wasn't a hero like Alex or Brandon, not a take charge person like Asazi, or even loud like the rest. He was the one who stayed in the back and tried to keep things from coming apart.

Airships or relationships, it was all the same. A quick fix with a smile then he was back to being ignored. Back to being able to watch everything going on and know when the next tune-up would be needed.


	4. Children

_No the kids aren't really named Nora and Teddy. That's right, I gave fictional children that'll never exist names then gave them nicknames. And yes, I'm going to keep shipping this couple until someone convinces me otherwise. All arguments are appreciated._

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_28. Children_

"You know I could replicate the damn bears myself," Tempest complained to his wife as they walked into the brightly colored store. She ignored him with practiced ease and set Teddy onto the floor while Nora ran towards the bins of animal skins. Tempest just sneered at the store at large, wondering who had come up with the idea of making kids pay for the 'honor' of making their own stuffed toys. What was next, having them sew the fucking things?

"It'll be a bonding experience for us and the kids." Winifred had told him during the argument. "They need something else to do with us besides learn how to rebuild engines and routers." She was right, she was almost always right about the kids. That didn't mean that Tempest wasn't going to find a way to get back at Alex and Asazi for putting the idea into her head in the first place.

It didn't help his temper that almost all the other kids in the store were shrieking at the top of their lungs and throwing things to the floor. Those who weren't had snot and tears running down their faces and sullen looks, the sure sign that they hadn't gotten their way. Tempest felt a surge of pride at his offspring, at least they didn't act like rabid animals.

"Daddy! Daddy! Can I have a panda!?" Nora asked waving the skin in front of her father's face. "I'm gonna name her Tulip and mommy says I can buy her a dress today!" Then without waiting for a reply she dashed over to the section that held hearts (Hearts? Tempest wondered if anyone else found it silly) and began browsing through them.

"What are you getting Teddy?" Tempest asked crouching down next to his son and attempting sound interested.

" 'ingray," the boy proudly showed his father the thing tucked under his arm. Great, he was going to be getting a talk from his mom soon about what four year old kids should and shouldn't like. But he wasn't going to tell Teddy no, especially when being stared at with such innocent eyes. So instead Tempest smiled and asked his son what sort heart he wanted for Mr. Stingray then helped the twins pick out sounds for the toys. He did try to figure out why his son wanted a stingray with a heartbeat but in the end decided that Teddy would grow out of his weird stage.

It was nice to spend time with the kids outside of their home. Not that he would ever admit it to Winifred though he had a feeling she already guessed.

"I love you!" A mechanical voice announced in Tempest's ear. He turned slightly to see Winifred smiling and holding her own small stuffed bear.

"Very funny," he put his arm around her shoulders as they watched the children.

"They want to know if we can go to the zoo next week." Tempest sighed, he'd never seen the point of zoos. You paid money to go watch animals sleep when you could get the interesting stuff on TV for far less.

"Alright."


	5. Red

**11. Red**

_Sorry this one is a bit short and I honestly don't like it. Just seemed like a funny idea at the time. *sigh*_

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"Which shade do you think looks better? Alex blinked at the two tubes of lipstick being shoved towards him. They looked the same color to him, but Asazi would just roll her eyes and probably mumble something about men under her breath if he told her that.

"Um.. The darker red one?" He said pointing to one of the colors at random and hoping that it really was darker. Asazi gave him a grateful smile and went back to fixing herself up. He gave a silent sigh of relief then wondered if Rikki or Brandon ever had to help pick out something. Alex allowed himself a slight snicker at the thought of Brandon trying to help pick out eye shadow before Asazi turned around again.

"Which shoes do you think look better?"


	6. Beginnings

**1. Beginnings**

_Look! Two stories before I go all fangirl again._

Sometimes it was hard for Simon to remember why he was doing what he did. When he stared at the coffin of a 15 year old child it was hard for him to tell himself that it was all for the good of the world. That someday people would be grateful for the experiments being held.

It didn't help as the students walked by the coffin; half of them holding back tears while the others sobbed in their grief. Their eyes asked why, how? If someone who had been young and looked perfectly healthy could die while brushing his teeth what was keeping them from doing the same? How could they feel safe?

Simon was still running over the data and the death wondering just what had gone wrong the next day as he walked into the office of his real job. Had they been pushing the kids to hard? Had it been an untested allergy?

"It was a small price to pay." Xavier didn't even look up from his test results as Simon walked in. "Or do you think that we should stop because of one mistake."

"It was a child."

"One child. Think of how many we could save." The life of one for many. "I do believe that you're reached a breakthrough. Subject 45B has been showing signs that he might trigger."

"45B? You mean Alex?" Nice kid, though Simon wouldn't have thought that he'd of been the one who would trigger. Then again, science was about surprises, wasn't it? "Does that mean we drop Group A?

"No, not yet." Simon tried not to sigh in response. Those subjects had no chance of triggering but Xavier seemed determined to keep running them through tests. It looked as though Simon was going to be making up more lies to keep Rivers, Jonson, Cain, and Swift from dropping out.

"Prepare the others for Stage Five."


	7. Death

**30. Death**

Everyone had offered to help Marian pack up. Some had offered to do it for her. It was all done out of kindness and Marian had smiled while rejecting the offers. But it was something she had to do, something private.

For the first hour she had cried over her husband's things even things she had hated while Brandon had been alive. Now they all seemed wonderful, had memories attached to them that she didn't want to forget. But once Marian started she was surprised how quickly the whole ordeal took.

Four boxes. Four boxes was all that was needed to get all of his belongings in order. Marian felt as though she wasn't honoring him, what sort of life could be packed away so quickly and take up so little space when done?

But Brandon would have wanted her strong. He wouldn't want her sitting there with boxes half opened pitying the way life had gone. So Marian shut the last box firmly closed, keeping it in reach for when she could look at everything and feel something besides loss.


	8. Green

**14. Green**

_I made it three drabbles before coming back to these two._

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During the very few times Winifred had caught Tempest without glasses she had found herself drowning into his eyes. They reminded her of some sort of gem with their faint glow. When he would look at her with his guard down, something even rarer then glasses, Winifred sometimes swore she could see the emotions running through them.

She had told the truth when she had told him that he use to have hard eyes. Not that the look had ever gone far away, but it seemed less common then the pictures of his youth showed. In fact sometimes he looked almost younger then he was. Sometimes he looked at her and Winifred swore that his eyes got a bit softer. But that had to be her imagination, just dreams that she made up to make herself feel alright about loving him as she did.


	9. Why

**80. Why**

_This entire thing is due to James Taylor's song 'Fire and Rain'. I suggest that you play it before/during/after you read this. It's a really good song if a bit depressing._

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It should have been raining. Not sunny with no clouds in he sky; the weather was mocking the whole reason the small group had gathered together at the church. Tempest had wanted to change the weather to fit the occasion better but had been stopped.

"It's not going to make you feel any better," Asazi had told him. As though she knew anything about how he felt that day. She was currently throwing him worried glances but the blond haired man just ignored them.

Winifred looked unlike herself. Whomever had done the job had fucked up badly and Tempest made a mental note to find out who the person had been later. She probably hadn't even wanted to have a funeral service in a church, it had all been done for her by other people. Maybe she had wanted to be buried by her parents, but no one seemed able to tell him were that place was. Hell, Tempest didn't even know were his friend had lived before he had met her. So she was being buried by a small church that Winifred had probably never heard of in her entire short life.

They would pay, they would pay. Tempest didn't care who had done the deed. They were all going to die from his hand and would know just why. Maybe he would let them try to tell him why, why they had killed someone innocent.

The priest was finishing up, though Tempest couldn't recall the old man starting at all, and the coffin being closed up. He felt something rise up, maybe a yell at them to leave it open, she didn't need to be shoved into a small, dark place. But he quickly fought it back, what would making a scene do?

The sun was still shining.


	10. New Year

**95. New Year**

_I can't help thinking that I never write Asazi right._

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"It was a nice party," Asazi said as Tempest attempted to dip her.

He snorted, "Yeah sure. And I'm sure everyone enjoyed the part were you decked Anna."

"Bitch deserved it." They both stole a look at the older woman. Anna was sitting by herself at a table with a scowl and a ice pack. "I don't even know how she found out about this party. Unless you invited her?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" Asazi shrugged, stepping to the right so that they wouldn't trip over each other's legs.

"You needed a date? I don't know why you didn't invite your little girlfriend along." Tempest growled back at her. He really didn't want to be there, didn't want to be dancing, and he really didn't want to talk about Winifred. Asazi patted him on the cheek, a small smile crossing her face before she let him go. "Well I've got to go find Alex before midnight. Have fun baby boy."


	11. When

**79. When**

"Don't you dare say anything." Tempest told Asazi, his arms were folded across his chest and she was pretty sure that he was glaring at her.

"Why would I say anything? I'm glad for you." Tempest stared at her before deciding that she wasn't kidding then flopped down on the couch next to her.

"Like you haven't been teasing me about Winifred for years," he grumbled.

"I use to tease. And that was mostly because it was so much fun to get you worked up over the subject. Besides, I didn't tease you once in the seven months you two have been together."

"That's true but- Wait, how do you know how long we've been together?" Tempest demanded, getting back to is feet and folding his arms. He was definitely glaring now.

"Women's intuition." Asazi had followed (not spied or stalked like some people had said) them for a week trying to figure out what was going on. But she didn't feel much like starting a fight so close to the good news. "So when's the big day?" Asazi asked when he gave her a 'I'm not buying it' look.

"We haven't set one yet," he said defiantly.

Asazi waved him off, "I was just wondering. It doesn't have to happen right now. Though I hope poor Winifred doesn't get knocked up before the big day. It might not make her happy to go down the aisle looking like a beach ball." She paused. "Do you even have to worry about that?"

Tempest stared at her, opened mouthed and red faced.

* * *

_I honestly have no idea what his answer would be. I just got the mental image of Asazi saying this and had to somehow get it into a story._


	12. Star

**46. Star**

_I'm about ready to give up on **not** writing these two. Is anyone getting sick of them yet?_

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"Do you know any of the constellations?" Tempest blinked then turned around to find Winifred staring out one of the hallway's windows. "I use to know a lot of them but I guess that I just sort of forgot."

She looked almost sad, staring out at the bright lights in the sky.

"I never learned about them," Tempest told her truthfully. His studies had never held time for stuff like constellations. "Do you remember any of them at all?"

"Huh?" Winifred blinked then searched the sky for anything familiar. "I think that one is Orion, see? That's his belt." She pointed out the three stars for Tempest's benefit. "And then that must be the small dog. Or maybe not. I use to make up my own pictures in the stars when I was younger; like clouds."

"I really never did that either." The one time Tempest had tried to make pictures in clouds and talk to someone about it his mother had become angry and asked how he expected to be anything in life if he didn't study. Soon after he had learned the names of the kinds of clouds and started seeing them as cirrus or nimbus. He was brought out of his thoughts by Winifred's embarrassed face, she probably thought he was thinking how childish she was acting.

"Those stars look a bit like a shoe." Winifred tilted her head a bit as she looked at the area he had pointed and grinned.

The ones next to it look a bit like a airplane, see?" She traced out the pattern for him with her fingers. Tempest followed with his, wondering if this was what normal kids their age got to do.


	13. Sixth Sense

_35. Sixth sense_

Winifred took a deep breath, reminding herself that what she was doing wasn't really wrong. After all, who knew what could happen if she someday lost control? The feeling that she was somehow violating people didn't go away but Winifred moved forward with her plan.

Looking over her orange the young woman stared at the couple sitting on a stone bench a couple feet from her. _breath in breath out. _The girl laughed and pushed the guy wit her elbow causing him to laugh and rub his sides in fake pain. Were they dating? Winifred focused her mind on their voices, the way that they were teasing each other and _oh god Iihope he doesn't believe the bitch about joe. _Winifred chocked on her fruit as the images of the bedroom antics of Joe and Heather filled her mind. Quickly she cut off the contact and tried as hard as she could to act like everything was normal.

Bad choice. She eyed the rest of the people walking around hoping to find a good target. One guy from her class was cutting across the grass. She'd forgotten his name but knowing him, even slightly, would make it easier, right? Winifred focused again, keeping her own thoughts from rising up as she concentrated on him.

Winifred instantly jerked back, feeling a blush rising to her face. She had never noticed how many girls in the area had short skirts and low tops until now. Why had he even noticed? Great, now she was going to end up with the images in her mind for weeks.

Alright, she was going to find someone without sex on the brain. This time Winifred took more time to choose her target. This one looked hassled about something and wasn't looking at anyone in a matter that indicated intrest. Winifred reached out with her mind, trying to connect. This one was a bit harder then the last two though it may have been because she was tired.

_tired so tired. don't wanna do it anymore. should end it. god. oh god. godohgodohgod._

Winifred jerked back, tears forming in her eyes. She got to her feet ready to run up and help in anyway she could, hiding be dammed. But he was already gone, closed in by the crowd. Winifred hadn't caught his name. Just images and feelings. But that had been enough to get her closer to him then anyone else.

What would she had said? That the world really was fair? That someday he would find the love that he had been looking for?

Winifred shivered as the air around her blew colder then before. It was time for her to stop. Go home and walk along the empty streets with Penelope and think about what she was going to say next time they met.


	14. Dark

**74. Dark**

_I was about to give up writing these then I checked my traffic. Thank you everyone who's been reading this! If you have a favorite character you'd like me to write please tell me._

He was a he.

That much he knew. Flashes of memory said so though each memory was brief and hard to catch. All his family _a memory of some woman smiling at him_ said they didn't have the same thing happen to them. It was confusing. Confusing was not a good thing so he tried to bury it.

_someone was laughing with him at something _He hated him _he didn't really hate but was jealous _that man who kept making the master mad.

No other trilobugs had genders. They thought it was interesting. Or at least as interesting as they could find something _hobbies hobbies were interesting baseball cards when he was younger _that the master didn't care about.

_he hated that guy the one who had done this to him_

He hated the master. He hated doing that the master wanted. _what did he want what did he want _They wanted information. Information was good. Would tell them why he was getting a gender and flashes of someone's life. _his life his life it was all his_

They wanted to know what was going on with one of their own. It was interesting. So they followed.


	15. Parents

**27. Parents**

Someone had left a stone at both her father and mother's graves, Winifred didn't know how to feel about it. Someone had remembered her parents. Someone had visited them. She hadn't even been to their graves to light one candle or set her own stone in their memory.

"Hello," her fingers traced the images on the stones before sitting between the two graves as Winifred tried to find something to say. When they'd been alive she could talk to them about anything. But now, when she wasn't even sure they could really hear her, the words got stuck in her throat.

She wanted to think that they would be proud of her, proud of what Winifred had learned and what she had been doing. But how could she explain to them about it? About how fearful she'd been and how just staying put had been easier then fighting, then running away from the airship?

She remembered going to Germany when she had been younger. Much to young for her to really know why they had gone to put stones on a unmarked grave. Why her grandmother had cried and hadn't smiled for days after. Later on she'd heard the stories but hadn't really been able to believe them. Who could hold that much hate for people? How could others not hate but go along with it?

She knew to well now how it was. How easy it had been to just sit back and sometimes do something small, if you did anything at all to stop someone.

But maybe it was the small things that could also help. Like when her great-grandfather had smuggled in some extra food for the people in the ghetto. How he gave someone his shoes and saw them on the man's feet later when he helped burn away the memory of those whom had died.

"I'm sorry." Winifred told her parents, told her grandparents who had always believed that she would grow to be something great.

Who would still love her, even if they knew just what she had done or almost done in her life. It was one of the few things she still had, their love and her pride. And no matter what happened from now, she could wrap those around herself and be free.

_Most Jews leave stones or candles in place of flowers at graves. Though the candles are for special occasions as far as I can tell. Why is she Jewish? Because I think so and no one has tried to prove me wrong (yet)._

_I need to stop writing depressing stuff._


	16. Ends

**3. Ends**

_I got my first review, yay! Thanks very much Dudegirl, you're the best_

_Question for those who are reading this, should I start writing on Withering Stumps of Time again or not? E-mail, review, just go to the story and I'll count it as a yes vote or something. Same thing if you think it sucks and should be placed in a river of fire, just tell me. :)_

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Winning hadn't been like anyone had thought it would be. It had been the result of an accident, not by planning. There had been nothing after the council had been destroyed. No fireworks, no speeches, no Interpol debriefing them.

Nothing.

They had kept an eye out for months, waiting for something to happen. For X to appear and launch another dastardly scheme upon the world. But as time went by they allowed themselves to breath a sign of relief. Everything was finally back to normal.

Everything was now boring.

Alex hadn't realized it at first, how fighting terrorists had somehow become the glue that kept his make-shift family together. No one could go back to how it had been before, they were so spaced out from one another and had grown into entirely different people. So one by one people left.

The worse part was that Alex found that he didn't notice as much as he should. It was only in the small moments when he thought "Huh, I wonder what Grinder would say" or "Wonder of Fidget would have cheered me on".

He was tired, tired of fighting and tired of pushing himself. So he and Asazi retired to a house with a white picket fence. Getting ribbed the whole time about needing a dog and 2.5 kids soon by everyone that they knew.

"We could start on it." His wife had teased him one night as she got ready for bed. "Give you something to do."

Life was boring. Life was exciting in more ways then Alex count.


	17. Strangers

**025. Strangers**

**Proof that being with a crazed sociopath can sometimes be good. Or that I'm way too interested in AUs.**

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Working the nightshifts at a coffee shop gave Winifred a varied type of customers. From factory workers on the graveyard shift to a group of college kids attempting to see whom could stay awake the longest.

This had to be the rudest (though cutest, until he'd opened his mouth) person that she had ever met.

"Look little girl, if you can't fix one fucking drink I don't know why I should pay you." The blond man across the counter sneered at her as he waved his cup at her. "This is not a proper latte!"

"I could remake it for you." Winifred didn't add the again out loud. If she had been someone else, someone braver she may have said something. Told him to get out and she wasn't there to be his whipping boy. Girl. Whatever the hell she was being paid below minimum wage to not be. But instead she gritted her teeth and remade the drink. Hotter and hopefully with the right mixture right down to the right percent of wipped cream for the ass.

"Thank you." Even those two words set her teeth on edge as the man turned away to flip open his phone; ignoring her now that Winifred had done her job. He was cute, cuter then anyone else she had seen in her lifetime. But as he left the building Winifred prayed God that she would never have to see him again.


	18. Passing

**65. Passing**

It was on a lazy Saturday that he found a grey hair.

Another grey hair. He had been getting more lately and right now as Alex looked in the mirror he had to admit that they were all over. Not something that could be blamed on getting hit on one spot. Perhaps on stress, if he was really unwilling to admit the truth.

He was getting old.

People had started hinting quite loudly that it was time for him to retire from his job before he got badly injured. Even Masters had started in the other day. His mom had stopped asking for children probably believing that it was to late for it to happen. It was probably to late, he and his Asazi weren't getting any younger.

The worst part was that it seemed like nothing had really changed. Alex was doing the same old thing, worrying about the same old things and even older people. It was a routine that had become comfortable. Like a slightly itchy sweater that one wore just because it was easier then buying another one. He had worried about being forced to save the world until he had grey hair. And now it was coming true.

What was next, saving the world with a full head of silver hair? Being in a wheelchair and watching as another young body was taken over and losing just because of old age?


End file.
